Hardware co-ordination of resource management in distributed systems

Abstract

Systems and methods are directed to methods and apparatus for transferring ownership of common resources from a source entity, which owns a resource, to a destination entity, which will own the resource, in a distributed system. The method includes the source entity receiving a command to change ownership (the MOVE command), and then marking the source entity as no longer owning the common resource. The source entity then sends a MOVE command to the destination entity, which will then update its common resource ownership table to reflect that the ownership of the common resource has been transferred from the source entity to the destination entity. It is advantageous that the updating of ownership of the common resource in the source entity occur simultaneously with the dispatching of the MOVE command to the destination entity.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A computer-implemented method for a semiconductor-device-implemented distributed system comprising a semiconductor-implemented source entity and a semiconductor-implemented destination entity, each communicatively connected to a message-passing bus, wherein each entity has a corresponding semiconductor-implemented common-resource ownership table, the method comprising:
 determining, by the source entity, that ownership of a semiconductor-implemented common resource is to be transferred to the destination entity, wherein ownership of the common resource comprises temporally exclusive access to the common resource; 
 updating, by the source entity, the common-resource ownership table of the source entity, to reflect that the source entity no longer owns the common resource; and 
 sending, by the source entity, a MOVE command to another entity within the distributed system reflecting that the common-resource ownership has been changed from the source entity to the destination entity. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein updating the common-resource ownership table further comprises indicating that the destination entity owns the common resource. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 2 , further comprising sending a MOVE command to at least one non-source entity indicating that the ownership of the common resource has changed from the source entity to the destination entity. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , wherein the method further comprises sending an acknowledgement from the at least one non-source entity that the ownership of the common resource has changed from the source entity to the destination entity. 
     
     
       5. A computer-implemented method of transferring ownership of a semiconductor-implemented common resource in a semiconductor-device-implemented distributed system comprising a semiconductor-implemented source entity, a semiconductor-implemented non-source originating entity, and a semiconductor-implemented destination entity, each communicatively connected to a message-passing bus, wherein the source entity initially owns the common resource and wherein ownership of the common resource comprises temporally exclusive access to the common resource, the method comprising:
 receiving of a first MOVE command by the non-source originating entity, the non-source originating entity having a corresponding semiconductor-implemented common-resource ownership table; 
 examining, by the non-source originating entity, the corresponding common-resource ownership table to determine the source entity that initially owns the common resource; and 
 sending a MOVE FWD command, by the non-source originating entity, to the source entity indicating that a transfer of ownership of the common resource from the source entity to the destination entity is requested. 
 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 5 , further comprising:
 sending, by the source entity, a second MOVE command to at least one non-originating non-source entity indicating that the ownership of the common resource has moved from the source entity to the destination entity. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 6 , further comprising: 
       accepting the second MOVE command from the source entity by the non-source non-originating entity; and
 notifying the non-source originating entity, by the non-source non-originating entity, that ownership of the common resource has been updated at the non-source non-originating entity. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 7 , wherein notifying the non-source originating entity that ownership of the common resource has been transferred to the destination entity comprises sending, by the destination entity, a MOVE CMPLT back to the non-source originating entity. 
     
     
       9. A computer-implemented method of transferring ownership of a semiconductor-implemented common resource in a semiconductor-device-implemented distributed system comprising a semiconductor-implemented source entity, a semiconductor-implemented non-source originating entity, and at least one semiconductor-implemented other entity, each communicatively connected to a message-passing bus, wherein the source entity owns the common resource and does not have a semiconductor-implemented common-resource ownership table and wherein ownership of the common resource comprises temporally exclusive access to the common resource, the method comprising:
 receiving a MOVE command from the non-source originating entity, by the source entity; 
 determining, by the source entity that it no longer owns the common resource; and 
 sending a MOVE command from the source entity to the at least one other entity indicating that the transfer of ownership of the common resource from the source entity to a destination entity is indicated. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 9 , further comprising:
 creating, by the source entity, a temporary table indicating ownership of a commonly owned resource by other entities having access to the commonly owned resource, and whether the other entities have responded to the MOVE command; and 
 marking entries to the temporary table as having moved ownership of the commonly owned resource from the source entity to the destination entity as entities acknowledge the MOVE command from the source entity. 
 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 10 , further comprising removing the temporary table once all the entities having access to the common resource respond to the MOVE command with a MOVE CMPLT command indicating to the source entity that the ownership of the commonly owned resource has been updated from the source entity to the destination entity.